The scene Thursday
morning in Blaine county's
second-floor hearing room as the
Board of Commissioners made findings
denying the proposed Cove Springs
development.

The Blaine County Board of
Commissioners Thursday morning
denied the subdivision application
of the 308-lot Cove Springs
development six miles southeast of
Bellevue for several reasons
stemming from the county's
comprehensive plan including the
development's impact on public
services and the impact of so many
new residents on the Bellevue
Triangle's agricultural operations.

The developers will have to await
the formal, written denial contained
in the findings of fact, before
deciding what to do next. Those
findings may come out near the end
of the month of a little later if
their proper preparation needs more
time.

Project attorney Marty Flannes again
called for mediation in the
application and while Commission
Chairman Tom Bowman said he wasn't
prepared to answer that on the spot,
Flannes later added the county can't
say only that the project does not
comply with the county's standards,
they have also to say how the
project could comply.

Story
continues below

The developers of
the proposed Cove Springs with
attorney Marty Flannes second from
left.

Mountain Overlay

In a point-by-point analysis of the
project continued from Wednesday's
deliberations, commissioners made an
early finding just 20 minutes into
the day noting that several lots are
within the 2004 determination of the
county's Mountain Overlay District.

"It's easy," Bowman began. "This
application vested in the 2004 rules
and we have to use those 2004 rules.
I would say that the application is
not in compliance with the [MOD]
standard but could be if the lots
were removed from the Mountain
Overlay District. I do not think
it's appropriate for the applicant
to use [MOD] map that was developed
in 2006 for this 2004 application."

Several speakers at the October 4
public hearing
also said it's
unfair for the development to apply
2004 rules to the development and to
rely on the less-restrictive 2006
Mountain Overlay District.

The roads issue

The next loss was a crucial
threshold standard, which cannot be
appealed.

In the
Blaine County Code
, Chapter 10
(Subdivision Regulations) Section 6
(Planned Unit Developments) has a
subsection 8 (standards of
evaluation) in which line A9 states
"The developer will finance the
improvement of the road network
outside of the PUD where traffic
generated by the PUD's increased
densities make such improvements
necessary."

Commissioners then noted the
$100,000 payment and additional
$42,000 per her thereafter proposed
in the application were insufficient
to remedy the impacts on Baseline
Road, Pero Road, East Glendale Road
and others in the Bellevue Triangle.

"I do not believe it's in compliance
with the standard," Commissioner
Larry Schoen began. "The
improvements that will be necessary
will see a diminution of
level of service
on Gannett Road
and there's been almost no
discussion about the issues to the
roads networks in the area and
improvements that would be necessary
to those roads."

"Does not comply," Bowman confirmed.

The ranch site
today, along the east side of
Gannett Road.

Impacts on
surrounding uses

Blaine County Code 10-6-8A.3
mandates "The uses proposed within
the PUD will not be detrimental to
present and potential surrounding
uses. "

Commissioner Sarah Michael found
Cove Springs fails that one.

"I agree with the majority of the
planning and zoning commission that
even with changes, that it will be
detrimental to surrounding wildlife
and detrimental to the surrounding
agricultural uses. I find
noncompliance," Michael said.

Commissioner Schoen said the
development would prove a negative
impact on the City of Carey.

"The impacts would become even
greater if, as is proposed,
commercial uses were allowed in the
heart of this PUD," Schoen said. "I
don't any way in which other people
could be restricted from using those
facilities, especially if you're
bringing in people from the outside
to use the park, to make that truly
a park that benefits the whole
community. I think the development
of this area or if it ultimately
becomes a town –which I think it
will- it will impact surrounding
uses."

A less-than
superior design

Despite the praise Cove Springs has
won for its integration of more- and
less-dense development, its many
pedestrian walkways its wastewater
treatment plant, Commissioner Schoen
found the negatives outweighed the
positives.

"These applicants have in many ways
set wonderful standards for
development on that level and
they're to be commended for that,"
Schoen said. "Fundamentally,
however, the design and intention of
putting an urban type of development
in this area is an inferior concept.
I find also that homes in the
Mountain Overlay District is not
superior. I have long opposed
affordable housing units in the
agricultural area so far from
existing jobs and services inferior.
…The impacts of this development on
surrounding uses –covered before- I
don't find to be superior design.
The conservation benefits -I highly
commend applicants for that but I do
not believe that those are justified
by the development."

Bowman agreed.

"There are admirable points to this
proposal," Bowman noted,
"[including] achieving water
balance, the MBR wastewater
treatment facility, the wide variety
of housing types, the recreational
amenities, the sensitivity to
wildlife. However, the walkability
feature touted by the applicant, I
believe, lives in a vacuum of
services really essential to a
walkable community and it disregards
how auto-dependent this proposal
will be."

Bowman said the subdivision, at
buildout, will generate one million
car trips per year of about 10
million road miles if the average
trip is to and from Hailey.

Schoen again brought up the prospect
of a new town.

"The proposal is to create a
town-type of development without any
of the concurrent services and uses
that go along with that for this
level of density." Schoen said.

Water

Water provided a win for the
developers via a 2-1 split among the
commission. Schoen, a south-valley
farmer, attempted –again- to explain
the violation he saw in transferring
irrigation water into domestic uses.
Commissioners Bowman and Michael
argued confusion could result from a
conflict of the transfer idea with
the state-mandated right of every
homeowner to irrigate half an acre
around their home.

The issue was resolved over Schoen's
objections.

"I'm deeply disappointed," Schoen
began. "I believe that both of you
have supported me in trying to learn
more about water issues because both
of you have identified water issues
as a critical resource issue for our
valley. I'm sorry I'm unable to
convince you."

Next…

Subdivisions and PUDs need to pass
all standards in the county's
ordinances and all built to date
have done so. The failure of one
requires remedy before a subdivision
can be created.

Flannes' assertion the county needs
to point the direction in which
remedies may lie may provide the
basis for an appeal to the 5th
District Court. Nothing happens
prior to the formalization of the
county's denial in its findings of
fact and conclusions of law.

Chair Bowman said the findings may
be ready by the end of the month.

Anyone with thoughts on the denial
of the Cove Springs development is
invited to participate in Sun Valley
Online's
blogs
, where the Wood River
Valley discusses issues of the day.